


City of Fools

by babesrgrs



Series: Don't look back [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Humor, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 05:07:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29396694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babesrgrs/pseuds/babesrgrs
Summary: Tony's not sure when he became the resident couples counselor for supersoldiers, but since he was definitely unqualified, he wasn't responsible for any unprofessionalism he might demonstrate.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes & Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark
Series: Don't look back [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/874836
Comments: 10
Kudos: 27





	City of Fools

**Author's Note:**

> This might be slightly confusing if read as a stand-alone, but then again, the whole series is basically a soap-opera, so it's not exactly rocket science. Not beta-read. No idea where this is going.

Something was going on with Barnes. 

Tony knew this if for nothing else than for the fact that Barnes hadn’t made an inappropriate joke about his and Steve’s alleged sexual history in days. The new new had started after the man had done the whole Extreme Makeover: Red Machine Edition – which, even if Tony was maybe slightly annoyed about it, credit where credit was due, Barnes did clean up alright. 

Tony wondered if Steve had finally said something to the man about the inappropriate remarks, though he didn’t necessarily think it too likely since Steve seemed to have an endless amount of understanding when it came to Barnes. Tony did get it, growing up together, going to war together – it created a bond between people. He’d do about anything for Rhodey and _they_ hadn’t spent their childhood in each other’s pockets in some Dickensian fable before going full-on Saving Private Ryan – point was, he got it. He got the loyalty and the commitment and so he didn’t think it was a case of Steve drawing a line. Hell, the man who never backed down from a fight had backed down from a fight to his almost-death, all for Barnes. If he’d let Barnes beat him to a pulp, he would probably let him tell a few lewd jokes about him.

So, perhaps that wasn’t it but there definitely was an _it_. 

He'd had a whole surprisingly civil conversation about Barnes’s metal arm this morning without the man saying a single thing about where his fingers had been.

Curious about the dynamic, Tony had invited Barnes to get some scans done of the arm. It was partly kindness, as well, since Barnes had let it slip the arm was a source of pain. Tony knew he’d decided to keep his distance earlier but, well. Helping to mitigate chronic pain was different from designing new stuff for someone you wanted, obsessed over, whatever. And Barnes wasn’t Steve, anyway.

It might be even good for him, doing this for a man who’d been used in his parent’s murder. Not everything was about Steve.

“You don’t have to do this because of Steve.”

Tony narrowed his eyes. “I’m not.”

Barnes looked dubious but came closer to where Tony was setting up the scanner. 

“Alright, it’s a bit about Steve but to be fair, everything about you is about Steve, too. Apart from that – maybe I’m trying to get over the past a bit, that seem crazy to you?”

Barnes swallowed. “I wish you can. I wish anybody whose life I ruined could get some of it back.”

Shit, Tony thought. Sure, he was generally speaking distant and sometimes snappish with Barnes but that didn’t mean he wanted Barnes to wallow in guilt or, God help, to apologize. He sighed. “It’s not your fault.”

Shrugging, Barnes just said: “Doesn’t matter.”

“Fair enough. Just – don’t apologize to me and we’re good.”

“You sure? I am s – ”

“No,” Tony interrupted the man. “This – “ he said and gestured between them, “won’t work if you shoulder any culpability for my parents’ deaths. It’s not you and I’d refuse to be here if it was you.”

Slowly, Barnes nodded. “Alright. No apologies.”

“Great. Rest your arm on the table,” Tony guided. 

Barnes sat down on the designated chair and hesitated. Then: “Do I take the shirt off?”

Tony blinked. “You can,” he said. “Not that I’m particularly looking forward to a show, mind you, but it helps the process to see what I’m doing.”

Barnes merely gave him an annoyed look before he stripped off the long-sleeved T-shirt. He had a tank top underneath, Tony noticed gratefully. It wasn’t that it would have been disturbing so much as it would have been weird. Too vulnerable, somehow.

He scanned the arm and the shoulder in silence, Barnes being content to let him work without interruptions.

“Did you do any undercover work?” Tony asked after going through the 3-D images of the arm his scan produced. 

Barnes shook his head. “I was the brute force.”

“That’s what I thought,” Tony mused. 

“Why?”

Tony frowned. “It’s just incredibly intricate and none of the sculpting, the lines of titanium muscle, none of it has any other purpose than aesthetics.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’d hit just as hard if they’d just put a rougher casing for the wiring. This is some genuine artistry.”

“Hydra had all kinds of zealots in their ranks, some of them highly skilled.”

That was, of course, true. It was still ridiculous how smoothly the plates moved, imitating the human form near perfectly. Tony glanced at Barnes’s other arm to see if they actually matched.

“Does it feel symmetrical to the other?” Tony asked, intrigued that at least to his eyes the metal arm and the flesh one were very similar in shape and size.

Barnes thought it over. “I mean, apart from the actual feel of it, kinda? The reach is the same and uh, clothes fit similarly on both sides.”

“And when did you get it?”

“I – I think this one around the late sixties?”

“There were others?”

The man shrugged. “One before, I think. I suppose they might have done some maintenance, later on. But I’ve had this for decades. I don’t really remember that much, but there are instances that are clear in my mind that I can place in time.”

What Tony had been able to parse was that by the late sixties Hydra was thriving inside the SSR. He knew his father couldn’t have been a part of the Nazis but the engineering done for the arm was brilliant enough to cast doubts about its origins.

Tony locked that thought behind a metaphorical door in his mind. Not now. He needed a distraction.

“Any limitations to its use?”

Barnes frowned. “What do you think?”

“A problem with chafing, I’d wager. Hopefully, you’re not a leftie.”

Barnes was glaring at him which was what he’d wanted. Also, he’d given the man quite a perfect opportunity to tell how much Steve didn’t care for chafing or whatever. Barnes didn’t take it.

“I’ve learned to use the right.”

“Did you just confirm my assumption?” Tony asked, amused. Then: “Don’t worry, your problems with your grip won’t leave this room.”

“Sorry, did you want to hear about how I jerk off?” Barnes fired back and okay, Tony could do this.

“When did I say anything about jerking off? That’s you projecting. For some of us masturbation is not the only thing going through our minds,” Tony replied.

“Taking into consideration how much you like to blow your own horn, I’m thinking you’re not talking about yourself,” Barnes said.

Tony opened his mouth in mock—or not—affront: “That’s rich coming from the man whose favorite past-time is subjecting others to his unrealistic sexual fantasies.”

That shut Barnes up for the moment, at least, but not like he was being called out but more like he decided against saying what was his immediate response.

If Tony didn’t know better, he’d think Barnes had actually gotten some from Cap.

“What? You’ve not once shut up about your imaginary sexcapades with the Ice Ice Baby. Don’t tell me something happened,” Tony said, leaving it up to interpretation what he meant.

Barnes took the bait. He eyeballed Tony and then sighed as if he couldn’t quite believe he was going to tell this to Tony, of all people. “Something happened.”

A silence. “Did you want me to guess?” Tony asked.

A glare. “We – slept together,” Barnes said and wow, Tony had not actually expected that. 

There was the immediate feel of jealousy but he had kind of handled that for a long time, now. It was manageable. He knew it wasn’t really his place and he was committed to Pepper. So, he could let that feeling pass. He couldn’t contain his curiosity.

“Alright. I’d offer my congratulations for getting back in the saddle and realizing your dreams but I feel like there’s a but here somewhere.” That sounded neutral enough, Tony thought. 

Barnes shrugged.

“Alright. Was it – I don’t know, bad?” Okay, that was laying it a bit too thick. 

Barnes glared at him. “It wasn’t bad.” Then, more quietly: “Not to me.”

“There’s an implication here I’m sure you don’t want me to say out loud,” Tony said. “But I’m going to, anyway. Did Rogers not enjoy it?”

“Probably. I hope so. It’s just – “

Tony gave him room to find the words, feeling that this wasn’t the time to suggest insulting options.

“Hasn’t happened since.”

Ah. “Ah. And you’ve wanted – ?”

Surprisingly, Barnes started to laugh. Tony hadn’t ever really heard it before. It was an unexpectedly rich sound. “Buddy,” Barnes said after his bout of mirth. “Hasn’t it been obvious?”

Tony chuckled almost in spite of himself. Yeah, there hadn’t really been any doubt about that. “You’ve asked him?”

“Not in so many words,” Barnes admitted.

“Cap can be a bit thick, right? Could be your hints just go over his head.”

Barnes started to pull the shirt back on. They had finished some times ago, Tony realized. But here they were, talking – _gossiping_ about Barnes’s love life. Ridiculous.

“I suppose. He does know how I feel, though. You’d think he’d act on it if he wanted it, too,” Barnes said as if already resigned.

“Yeah. Listen, ah,” Tony was sure he was going to regret this talk soon enough, but he found that he wanted to share what he really thought. With someone who kinda got it. As obvious as Barnes’s boner for Steve had been, Tony was pretty sure his _past_ obsession had been transparent to Barnes, too. “I never really had a chance with him. Apparently, I’ve learned, because we didn’t talk to one another. Now, Pepper’s worth more than some uncertain thing or whatever we might have had with Rogers. Yet, if I was you, right now, I would go to his rooms and tell him to kiss me.”

“But you know he likes you,” Barnes said. 

Tony crossed his arms. “He slept with you,” he pointed out. 

“Possibly out of pity.”

A masochistic part of Tony wanted to ask more details about that but he restrained himself. And sure, there were a lot of other things to attraction than looks, but. Being relatively familiar with the musculature of Barnes, the width of his shoulders, the brutal strength he carried in his body – not to speak of the handsome face – Tony was pretty sure it hadn’t been a burden for Cap. 

If not for all the relatively many obvious reasons, Tony probably wouldn’t have kicked the man out of his bed, himself.

“Come on, Barnes. I’m sure he wanted it. And I’m sure it wasn’t bad.”

What happened next Tony was sure he would never completely understand. Was it a result of something brewing longer, had he started it with his questions, or was Barnes just nuts – he couldn’t have said.

All he knew was that the next moment Barnes’s demeanor changed from slightly awkward and resigned to something one might call flirty.

“Yeah? You think so?” He asked with a smile teasing at the edge of his lips.

Uh. What was this? “You seem like you’d be intense, moody, and athletic. Some people are into that,” Tony answered because, it turned out, he was nuts, too.

Barnes stood up. Not to intimidate, even though he was taller and bulkier than Tony. It brought him quite close to where Tony was sitting, maybe even inappropriately so.

“I’m actually very sweet,” Barnes said. 

Tony blinked, very aware of the fact that Barnes was slowly leaning down. There was only one reason why but Tony rejected the thought, or at least he didn’t move an inch out of the way.

When he was kissed he still stayed in his place and even went so far as to relax his mouth. He just – he knew that he couldn’t let Barnes think he was a bad kisser. That’s what he told himself and that somehow was the only thing making sense in the whole situation. So that’s why he gave the man a bit of a sample of what the almost 30 years of extensive practice resulted in. Nothing too much, just a flick of his tongue against Barnes’s lower lip, teasing the man to open his mouth to get a better taste.

It came to an end soon with Barnes stepping back.

“Okay?” Tony said.

“I – I have no idea,” Barnes said.

At least, that made two of them.

Was it cheating if you genuinely had had no intentions to swap spit with someone? Tony didn’t think it counted as cheating, he hadn’t wanted Barnes. He hadn’t invited him to his workshop to try to – seduce him, Jesus. 

Having decided that no, nothing really untoward had happened, he could forget about it and pretend it never had happened in the first place. Especially since there was the added layer of fucked-upness due to Barnes being his parent’s killer in a very literal sense.

He was pretty sure Barnes would not tell a soul – who could he tell, anyway? Telling Steve would probably put a strain on their fledgling romance or whatever it was they were doing. Tony supposed Barnes might tell Sam but the thought of Wilson being on the receptive end of that confession was so funny Tony almost wished Barnes would tell him.

Anyway, Tony had thought he had been safe from having to confront what had happened until Steve sought him out the next morning, acting weird.

“Suit working fine?” Tony asked when Steve had failed to state his business, relatively certain what the issue was but knowing better than to assume. Too many times he’d accidentally revealed a secret thinking the discussion was about something else it in reality was.

Surprised at the question, Steve blinked. “Yeah, yeah. Perfect. Not that it’s seen combat, yet, but the fit felt very good in practice.”

“Good. Anything else?”

“Uh, it’s about Bucky,” Steve said uncomfortably.

Shit. The jig was up.

“He came here just to scan the arm,” Tony volunteered, because he suddenly, weirdly felt like he’d been cheating on _Steve_. Not even necessarily because of the kiss but because he’d gotten relatively close with Steve’s best friend. Tony himself always found it unsettling when Rhodey and Steve got a bit too intense with their Army vs. Air Force routine.

“Oh,” Steve frowned. Then: “So, you talked?”

“Yeah,” Tony said.

“Okay. Can I ask if he said something about it? I mean, of course, you don’t have to –”

“No, no,” Tony hurried to explain. “He obviously didn’t mean it. Right? You have to know that. It was basically an accident.”

“He – he said that?” And shit, now Steve looked not only bewildered but almost hurt. He probably didn’t believe him. Well, who would? Who kissed other people accidentally?

“Well, no, but it was obvious. Completely meaningless. And, like, the kiss was really nothing to write home about.”

“What?” Steve asked like Tony had struck him. “I can’t believe he’d say that.”

“Well, he didn’t have to? I was there, too,” Tony said, feeling progressively more alarmed every second as he saw how wounded and weird Steve became. “Like, really, I felt nothing, not even a bit of a tingle under the waistline. I’ve seen lame sloths that have more passion, to be honest.” Tony had the distinct notion that he should shut up, already, but now Steve was horrified and he didn’t know how else to get the point across that absolutely nothing of interest had happened.

“If this is some sort of a joke – “ Steve started and oh, hell, that had definitely been in the Cap-register, Tony realized. 

“I don’t know what you want me to say!” He interrupted, not willing to be lectured because of something he most definitely didn’t initiate. “You should take it up with him, he’s the one who kissed me,” he tried.

The silence and then the uncertain “what” Steve voiced made it painfully clear to Tony that he was a world-class idiot, that Steve hadn’t come here to ask about their kiss. Goddamn.

“What are the chances for us to pretend I never said anything?”

“Bucky kissed you?”

Tony rubbed his face, feeling a headache in the distance. “Okay. All I know is I scanned his metal arm, we exchanged some mild insults and talked, he was feeling sad you hadn’t sexed him up again and then, probably due to stress, the surprisingly honest conversation we were having, my good looks, and all the damage done to his brain, he laid one on me. It was quickly over, we were both weirded out and he left. Haven’t seen him since.”

The confusion on Steve’s face was priceless. “Oh,” he finally said. “I – okay.”

Obviously, nothing about it was okay but Tony was glad Steve was ready to pretend.

When Steve didn’t make a move to leave, Tony deduced the conversation was still on. “So, you weren’t talking about the completely random kiss,” he observed.

“No. I thought I’d tell you there’s something going on between us, me and Buck. Not that I think you’re that interested but to just… to give you the heads up,” Steve said haltingly.

In other words, when Tony had told Steve he’d been there, Steve had thought he meant as _an audience_. Jesus. Also, kind of funny. 

“Yeah, Barnes told me, already. And, uh, in reference to your earlier question,” Tony said, “that boy is really into you.”

Steve started to smile but then it turned into something more strained. “I’m afraid I’ll break his heart.”

This was turning into Uncle Tony’s counseling for supersoldiers far too easily: Tony was sure he was one of the least approachable individuals for relationship advice and yet, here they were. 

Also, a bit of a trip, Tony had started to feel for Barnes and his trials and tribulations. Slightly. A week ago, he might have rooted for Steve and Barnes not making it, at least not as a – a couple, if he was feeling petty enough. Which, honestly, he often enough did.

Now, he’d genuinely feel bad to see Barnes take another hit.

“You don’t like him back?”

Steve chose his words carefully. “I think I do. I’ve thought about him, a lot, after – “

“After you slept together.”

Steve blushed. Charming. “Yes. You have to understand, it came out of nowhere, his confession that he wanted to be with me.”

Tony wanted to point out that there might have been a deaf-mute hermit somewhere in the Tibetan mountains that wasn’t aware of Barnes’s feelings but decided to let it pass. He was magnanimous like that.

“Sure.”

“He’s got such a head-start and I’ve just realized that my best friend I’ve known most of my life, that I’ve loved all my life, could be my partner in this, too. I don’t want to disappoint him.”

Tony could certainly understand. Pepper had been next to him for a decade before anything had happened. Of course, they kinda fell into it together. Pepper hadn’t been mooning over him secretly before it all went down. Might have been more awkward, had that been the case.

He supposed, in the end, he was glad about this development. He might have had problems toeing the line of appropriateness with Steve but Steve would keep to it for certain if he had someone else. 

“I get it,” Tony said. “But for the record, I don’t think he expects you to be ready for the deep end. Well, I think he’s convinced himself you’re not into it, at all, so, free advice, maybe talk to him?”

Steve looked chastised. “I will. I know I should have, already. I just thought I’d give us both a little time to get to grips with the situation.” Then, amending: “Mostly myself, I suppose.”

The conversation tapered off, after that, but before Steve could leave, Tony couldn’t help himself but ask: “So, no hard feelings about the kiss?”

Steve stopped in his tracks and his eyes locked with Tony’s. Then he broke the gaze and got an embarrassed smile on his lips. 

Hell. Tony realized that to Steve Barnes and him kissing was basically the two people he liked – liked like _that_ – going at it together. In other words, Steve found it hot. That was information Tony had no idea what to do with. 

Steve cleared his throat. “No hard feelings. Although – “

“Yeah?”

“It’s kinda funny even Bucky’s kissed you while we never did,” he said, disarmingly honest. “Unfair, even.”

Tony swallowed. They weren’t going to, he knew. That wasn’t where this was leading. He’d lose all respect for them both if they did.

Steve, Tony was relieved to see, didn’t make a move to try anything.

“Maybe in another life, right?” Steve said wistfully before turning to leave.

What was that saying? Tony thought to himself as he watched Steve go: Relief and disappointment, two sides of the same coin.

Goddamn it.


End file.
